European Stocks Give Back Gains as Global 'Trump Rally' Stalls

European stocks trader lower Friday as traders booked profits and protected gains earned over a volatile week that has investors around the world re-setting assumptions for growth and inflation in the global economy.

Germany's DAX performance index rose 0.15% at the open, however, led by a 2.2% gain for shares in Allianz SE (AZSEY) , Europe's largest insurer, before giving back gains to fall by 0.3%.

Allianz beat forecasts for its third quarter earnings and confirmed its full-year targets. The group, which also own PIMCO, said inflows into the world's largest bond fund increased to €4.7 billion in the three months ending in September, the first net reading since 2013.

In London, shares in private equity firm 3i Group (TGOPY) leaped to the top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard, rising more than 1.5% to change hands at 615 pence each. The group said Thursday that had booked returns of just under £1 billion ($1.2 billion) in the first half of its fiscal year, and that its net asset value had risen to 19% to 551 pence each.

Global bond markets continues their post-election sell-off Friday, aided in Europe by confirmation that inflation in Germany accelerated at 0.7% last month, its fastest pace in two years. Benchmark German 10-year bunds yields were quoted at around 0.303% in European trading, around 1.5 basis points lower than Thursday's closing levels.

In overnight trading in Asia, U.S. Treasury 10-year notes traded at around 2.15%, but volumes were limited in advance of the Veteran's Day observance Friday in the United States, during which bond markets will remain closed.

In currency markets, the pound has held onto post-election gains even amid a searing rise in the value of the U.S. dollar as investors count the inflationary costs of President-Elect Donald Trump's expansionary fiscal policies.

The pound is trading at six-week highs against the euro and was quoted at 1.2620 against the greenback, its highest level since the so-called 'flash crash' of October 7, when the currency lost more than 6% of its value in less than two minutes of trading.